Share & comment

Share & comment

Sugar Mobile, the MNVO (mobile network virtual operator) which uses the Rogers network for roaming (via its parent company Ice Wireless), has announced it has partnered with California’s textPlus to offer the latter’s “more than one million Canadian users” to roam on cell networks outside of Wi-Fi, for $19 per month.

Those who install the Nextplus iOS app (owned by textPlus) already get free texting and calling worldwide plus their own number, but now they can access roaming beyond Wi-Fi through Sugar Mobile.

Scott Lahman, founder and CEO of textPlus Inc, said in a statement “Nextplus is revolutionary because it offers the features of a cell phone company, but is delivered through an app,” adding “Partnering with Sugar Mobile simply sweetens the deal for our Canadian customers who can now roam outside of WiFi zones just as easily as our American customers.”

Sugar Mobile President Samer Bishay, explained “These demographics align with our current customer base at Sugar. Nextplus customers will receive cellular service beyond WiFi zones at the lowest possible prices in Canada.” Nextplus users can get a Sugar Mobile starter kit for 50% off at $14.50, available now from Sugar Mobile online.

For $19 per month, Sugar Mobile offers unlimited Canada US Talk and Text over Wi-Fi and 200MB of non-Wi-Fi data. Top up options at $19 include 500MB of extra non-Wi-Fi data, while another one-time option activates call forwarding and voicemail.

Rogers stated back in February it “does not have a roaming agreement with Sugar Mobile. We value our relationship with Ice Wireless and hope these violations of our agreement will be resolved.”

Sugar Mobile calls itself an over-the-top service for smartphone, comparing itself to how Netflix is an OTT for television.

As for textPlus, it has a partnership with Canadian VoIP operator Iristel to offer phone numbers for its users, and says it is the only Competitive Local Exchange Carrier (CLEC) in Canada, offering service coast-to-coast.